Thursday, February 03, 2011

TUNIS: Claims of misappropriation by ousted Tunisian leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and his associates are “in the hands of justice,” Tunisia’s new foreign minister said Wednesday while the interim government moved to take back control of the country’s security forces.

“The affair concerns a judiciary which at last is independent, which must do its work at its own pace,” Ahmad Abderraouf Ounais said.

“We are neither impatient, anxious nor a lynch-mob,” the minister told the media following a meeting in Brussels with the EU’s foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton. It was the minister’s maiden foreign trip since his nomination in the wake of Ben Ali’s ouster.

European Union foreign ministers this week decided to slap sanctions against Ben Ali and his wife Leila Trabelsi, with several dozen associates of the deposed leader to face a similar fate, EU diplomats said.
Asked to comment on the matter, Ounais said the Tunisian judiciary Wednesday opened four inquiries against “a certain number” of people, including the former leading couple, their relatives and others “who were their customers or their accomplices.”

“The question is in the hands of justice,” he said, adding that the judiciary had asked the government to communicate with countries possibly holding assets misappropriated by the Ben Ali clan that should therefore be returned to Tunisia. “We will make no comment on these misappropriations,” he said. “We will not comment on the guilt or innocence of these people.”

Tunisia’s former leading couple and their inner circle are suspected of having pocketed much of the country’s wealth over years and of taking personal stakes in much of the economy.

Prime Minister Mohammad Ghannouchi’s new administration axed 30 top police officials Tuesday, appointed a top military officer to head up the national security service and named new chiefs for seven key regions in the country. The government also approved wage hikes for the country’s beleaguered police service.

Ben Ali’s former Interior Minister Rafik Belhaj Kacem, previously under house arrest, was in custody Wednesday after being arrested Tuesday.

Admiral Ahmad Chabir, the new director of national security, has been charged with sweeping away Ben Ali stalwarts from key positions.

He also has to get the thousands of police officers, who deserted the streets as the popular uprising swept Ben Ali from power, back on post.

Protesters blame the police for brutal attacks on demonstrators during the uprising that saw 219 people killed, according to the U.N.

Tunisia’s newspapers backed the new administration’s bid to restore order, drawing a clear link between democracy and security.

“The return of the police officer, this soldier of democracy, to the streets after an eclipse which has thrown the country into alarm and disarray, will restore confidence to Tunisians,” said an editorial in Le Quotidien.

But with 100,000 police officers having been members of Ben Ali’s now-reviled Constitutional Democratic Assembly party – which had two million members in total – cleaning house will be no easy task. In contrast, the army has only 35,000 men, mainly posted along the country’s borders.

On national television late Tuesday, newly appointed Interior Minister Farhat Rajhi sketched an alarming picture of the powerful forces still lined up against the new administration.
He told of how a mob of up to 2,000 people had attacked his ministry late Monday. – AFP